Lost But Not Forgotten
by BobWhite
Summary: A girl the Camden's knew a long time ago is brought back after living on an uninhabited island for 10yrs. How will her parents adapt after learning that she is alive.Can the Camden kids forgive their parents for not telling them that they had another sis?
1. Default Chapter

_People speaking will be in italics._

**Lost But Not Forgotten:**

**What would you do if someone you knew got lost and was never found? Would you stop looking? Would you try to find him/her by yourself? Stop at nothing to find them? And if you found them, what would your first instinct to do be?**

**This is a story about a girl taken from everything she has ever known to a place she knows nothing about. It's about a girl who finds hope & faith in unexpected ways. It's about a girl who finds friendship with the animals around her. And never gives up that she will be found.**

_**"Love is a Hope that can not be forgotten. For if it is forgotten, what will there be to live for?"**_

I opened the door of the small cabin I had made with my own hands & the help of my friends. I was a girl of 15/16 years of age. My last contact with humans, except for the Coast Guard, was when I was six years old, on cruise liner with my family. I've been by myself for ten years & have barely been in contact with humans.

So when I saw the boat, my first reaction was to run out and talk to them. But instead I turned around & closed the door. Any human contact right now would be fatal to what I had going on. I would be ripped from my home & taken back to live among other humans. Besides it would take the crew a couple hours to find this place if they were even looking for me. Which I doubt they were since it had been 10 years since I had vanished from the cruise liner and probably wouldn't recognize me.

But I couldn't stay inside the cabin all day. Well it was more of a hut anyways, covered in brush to keep the predators out & so no one could disturb me if I didn't want them too.

I started to clean up my living quarters. I put the food away--in the warn out basket that I had made from vines and some bark--so no animals could get it, I made my bed, straightened the firewood pile, & put my boots on. I had made a whole ward-robe out of animal skins. I ate the meat and anything else that was digestible. I had grown a lot in the past 10 years.

I grabbed my robe and put it on. Grabbing my weapons and bag, I headed out-side, carefully. I could hear the humans crashing through the woods, coming straight for me. I put as much distance from my home and them as I could in such short of time. I heard them stop and go quiet. Hearing a noise behind me, I drew an arrow and put it in place on the bow & spun around. Not only were there men, but also women. One of the women started forward, but I drew the arrow to the bow & pulled back.


	2. Introductions

**Introductions:**

She stopped as a pack of wolves circled around me. They started to whisper among themselves. I heard one of the women ask if I looked familiar. Nobody knew. I cleared my throat & they looked at me.

"_Are you trying to tell us your name, child?"_ a man asked.

I glared at him, bow still posed._ "I am no child. To answer you, I can't remember my human name."_

"_What other name could there be for a child like you?"_ the man asked.

"_I am no child. My name is Matsouka. It means 'wild one'. What are you doing on my island?"_

"_Your island? This island is in national waters. Anybody can come here,"_ the lady in green said.

I was puzzled. _"What are 'national waters'? Who are you?"_

The lady in red stepped up._ "My name is Ruby. This lady in green is Shauna. The man in blue is Gary. And the man in yellow is Matt. National waters is…well its part of the ocean that anyone can be in. Do you mind if we take your picture? To show to our friends back home?" _she looked toward her friends & turned back, but we were gone. No one had seen where I had gone to so they went back to the boat.

The Coast Guard had pulled up beside the boat & was talking to the pilot when the four humans returned to the boat.

"_Here are my friends now. You see nothing wrong here."_

Ruby was the first to speak up._ "Officer, did you know that there is a girl living on that island?"_

"_You met Matsouka did you?" _

"_You know of her? How did she come to be on this island? What I mean to say is, how did she end up here?"_

"_Don't rightly know, but she won't leave. We tried to get her off, but the animals, she's tied to them. Linked to them I should say. Get outa here before we tow you back to shore. Don't go back on the island." _

"_If the island is in 'national waters,' then we have the right to be on it. Why can't we go back on it?"_ Shauna asked.

"_You wouldn't want to become Matsouka's next meal would you? Didn't think so. Matsouka likes to be left alone. She's barely around us humans. Hasn't been for a while."_

"_Well what about her parents? Do you know where they are? Have you tried to get in touch with them?" _Gary asked.

I had paddled out to the boats quietly & unobserved.

"_If my parents had really cared about me, they would have come looking for me when I disappeared 10 years ago. You think I wanted to fall off the cruise ship? I hated them for not coming back to look for me. So I got over it & made friends with the animals. Killing them may be mean, but I needed blankets, clothing, & food & I thanked their spirits like the Native Americans did. So just go back to your big city life and forget you ever saw me. And if you do tell anybody about my island, I will kill them if they come looking for me, understand?"_

The Coast Guard looked at me._ "Now don't be making any threats Matsouka. Just go back to the island & we'll be in to talk. Go on now!"_

I left knowing it'd be a couple hours 'til they'd be able to get to shore. The current would soon be against them. I hid the canoe in the small cove, hidden by brush, trees, logs, & giant boulders. I went back to my home. The Coast Guard officers knew how to get to there. They would probably have building materials with them. I needed to move to my new home, a cave to keep better dry. Winter was coming & I didn't want to be freezing.


	3. Moving & The Talk

**Moving:**

I found the cave & started putting wood up against the walls to keep anything from sliding forward. I had two sides done & was working on the third one when I heard my name being called. I came out of the cave & walked back to the wood home that I was tearing down.

"_What do you want to talk about?"_

"_Why did you let yourself be seen? Now we're going to have to explain your being here all over again. Do you realize that they could've taken your picture & put it in the news & then we'd all be in trouble? You'd be forced to go back to civilization. Do you want that? Never to return to this island again? Do you really want to be forced to leave your animal friends behind? Huh? Do you understand Matsouka?"_

"_I understand. But I didn't know anything about it. I was trying to hunt. I'm allowed to do that you know. If you still want to talk, then start helping me move. I'm moving into a cave to be warm for the winter. Let's go. Grab something & follow me."_

I grabbed the food & bundled it up in my robes. The officers grabbed the rest of the blankets, firewood, & tools. They also grabbed my utensils. They followed me to the cave & put everything down. All that was left to get was the door and hot coals in the fire pit. I left that up to the officers who left immediately. When everything was at the cave, we all sat down. I started the fire & got everything back in order. I wood go looking for food in the morning.

"_You know Matsouka; you should just stay in the cave all year round." _

"_I need a favor. I need you to bring me baskets. I need to be able to put the fruit somewhere so the bugs can't get to them. I also need: a couple more canteens, 2 pillows, a foam mattress, a couple thick blankets, matches, better hunting tools, some fishing gear, a C.B. radio so I know when boats are coming, also a safety kit, salt," _they were writing everything down as I went, _"a couple warm pieces of clothing, something to put my clothes in--like a big bag of some sort. Also some building materials: a hammer, nails, wood, a new boat 'cause mines leaking from old & new wholes, & anything else you wanna add. Think you can get all that stuff without arising any suspicion? I ain't got any money, probably never will. How much it gonna cost to get everything I need? Or do you want me to even pay you?"_

"_No need to pay me. I'll get it with the help of my wife. She's always thought highly of ya."_

"_Thank you Captain. And between you and me, my real name is Rachel, Rachel Lynn. Don't really remember my last name. if you do find my parents, just tell me if they tried to look for me. I've got to get back to work &so do you. See you when you bring my stuff back. Goodnight."_ He left & I put the door in the cave's entrance & fell asleep. Tomorrow was a new day & I needed to get my rest.


	4. The Soldiers

**The Soldiers:**

I got up the next day & finished putting wood up against the walls. I needed to get more fruit so I grabbed the woven basket I had made & swung it over my shoulder, grabbed my knife & tied it to my ankle--just below the edge of my boots so that the hilt was the only thing visible. I grabbed the bow & arrows, my whale bone spear, & my bag of skinning tools. I moved the door out of the cave entrance & came face to face with another human. This time I knew I was in trouble. The man looked straight at me & the started to speak.

"_You must be the Child Matt was telling us about. How'd you like to come with me back to civilization? By the way, my name's Sergeant Tom Stevens. And yours would be Matsouka. We talked to the Coast Guard and they told us to leave you alone, but we're the military. We don't have to listen to them. Our boat's out just yonder,"_ he paused & grabbed my arm tight, _"let's go."_

"_I'm not a child. And I'm not going anywhere with you nor am I leaving. Let go of me."_

"_Everyone always thought this island was uninhabited, now we know better."_ the officer...Sergeant had let go & stepped back the way he had come. Six other me came from hiding & started talking to him. The Sergeant looked behind him & drew his gun pointing to something behind me. I turned around and smiled.

Whistling, I moved the wood door against the entrance & the bear came forward till it was facing me. The Sergeant yelled at me to move out of the way, but instead I laid my hand on her head and & started to say something when the bear pushed a cub into my arms. I turned back to the humans.

"_You can put your gun away Sergeant. She won't hurt you. She's hungry & so are her cubs. She wants me to feed the cubs while she goes fishing. She promises to bring back enough food for me as well." _

"_H…how did you know that?"_

"_Easy. She does it three times a month. She'll be hibernating & she and her cubs need to be fat enough to do it. Besides its only a matter of knowing how to speak to the spirit of the animals. And I've had a lot of practice."_

"_What'll you feed the cubs while she's fishing?" _

"_Fruit of course. But she's going to stand guard here while I go get it. I ran out last night."_

"_So you're just going to trust a wild bear to sit in front of this cave and watch us while you go gallivanting through the jungle for fruit."_

"_Yeah, she's done it before. Only that was from other predators. Gotta go right now. Go on back to your ship. No need staying here any longer. I'm not going to tell you anything that you don't already know."_

"_Do you know who the Camden's are?"_

"_No, should I?"_

"_Matt's last name is Camden and he could've sworn you looked a lot like his younger sister Lucy."_

"_Don't really know who I look like and I don't really care. Now leave me alone for good."_ I left my campsite then and went to get fruit & meat for the food I would be saving for winter storage.


End file.
